Rivero

Countdown to Armageddon
Bring the Noise
Don't Believe the Hype
Cold Lampin' With Flavor
Terminator X to the Edge of Panic
Mind Terrorist
Louder Than a Bomb
Caught, Can We Get a Witness?
Show 'Em Whatcha Got
She Watch Channel Zero?!
Night of the Living Baseheads
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
Security of the First World
Rebel Without a Pause
Prophets of Rage
Party for Your Right to Fight



or





Contract On The World Love Jam (Instrumental)
Brothers Gonna Work It Out
911 Is A Joke
Incident At 66.6 FM (Instrumental)
Welcome To The Terrordome
Meet The G That Killed Me
Pollywanacraka
Anti-*********** Machine
Burn Hollywood Burn
Power To The People
Who Stole The Sole?
Fear Of A Black Planet
Revolutionary Generation
Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man
Reggie Jax
Leave This Off Your Fu*kin Charts (Instrumental)
B Side Wins Again
War At 33 1/3
Final Count Of The Collision Between Us And The Damned (Instrumental)
Fight The Power

cdollaz

I think Fear Of A Black Planet is the best rap album ever. One of the very few I can actually listen to.

Mondo Kane

Had to go with NATION!

wendersfan

They're both great. I can't decide.

DJLinus

I voted for Nation, but they are both classics. I miss really good mainstream hip-hop.

Gil Jawetz

Tough call. Nation is the better album by a hair but Fear has the single greatest hip-hop song of all time on it.

Michael T Hudson

Welcome To The Terrordome? If so then I agree if not you are wrong.

Rivero

I'm pretty sure he was referring to Fight the Power. at least I hope so.

Gil Jawetz

Terrordome is a great song but there is nothing like Fight The Power. Then again Nation has Black Steel...

Frank TJ Mackey

I would never call PE a mainstream hiphop group. If they released those today, all the hillbillies would be calling them anti-American and stupid crap like that.

Sernov

Personally, It Takes A Nation... was my favorite, possibly my fave overall rap LP of all time. Although I can see why people would choose Fear, Nation just set the bar for me.

Thrush

I think one could consider PE mainstream at that time. They were on a major label, they got a ton of airplay, their videos were in rotation on MTV, they sold out major venues. But I agree if they came out today they would never get airplay. Hell, they probably couldn't even get a major label deal.

There is still great hip hop being made but unfortunately the vast majority of the stuff that gets airplay is utter tripe.

BTW, Nation is my fav of the 2.

Trelach24

For some reason I've never been able to decide which Public Enemy albums I liked the best. They're all good.

tommyp007

very close call, but I voted for Planet by a hair.

Gil Jawetz

Now that they're playing with a live band I hope they put out a live disc or rerecord classic tracks. The band versions are very cool and Chuck and Flav sound great. A live DVD would be awesome.

Jray

Tough, tough call. I'd probably have to go with "Fear..." by a hair. Both are great albums. "It Takes..." of course put them on the map. Chuck's voice still gets me going to this day.

What a brotha know?

You know, PE has made albums fairly recently. The group didn't just "come out" of course but their albums don't get the attention they used to. So even though they are an established group with a big following, they still can't keep up with today's artists. It's disappointing but also understandable. I actually haven't liked some of their newer efforts as much as the classics.

But if you consider yourself a hip hop fan then you must have both of these albums in your collection. Don't talk to me otherwise.

Gerry P.

Fear of a Black Planet is album that ended my rap-hater mentality.

It is powerful, energetic, cinematic and intelligent stuff.

Daryl

I agree. I love of the story of Chuck D getting so mad at having to deal with all the Professer Griff controversy that he jumps in his SUV and drives from NY to Philly and back, and basically writes "Welcome to the Terrordome" during the drive.

Anyway, while both great great albums, I have to give the nod to Nation - IMO the best rap album of all time. I still remember my first few listens back in the day, hearing "Rebel Without a Pause" and "Bring the Noise" for the first time was simply mind-blowing at the time (although Rebel had already been released as a b-side, I hadn't heard it). The Flash Gordon intro to "Terminator X to the Edge of Panic", the lyrics to "Black Steel..", ahhhh, I could go on and on!

Anyway, again, Fear is a rap classic (and actually has less "duds" then Nation as I find "Party for your Right to Fight" and "She Watches Channel Zero" fastforward-able) but Nation gets my vote, simply because of how groundbreaking it was at the time.

Daryl

As an older cat in my lower 30's, it just stuns me to talk to some of these younger heads, and they don't have ANY of the classic albums of 87,88,89 in their collection. I'm like "how can you say 'I'm all about hip-hop' and you don't have Nation in your collection? You've never heard Strictly Business in its entirety. Paid In Full. Long Live the Kane. Criminal Minded. Raising Hell. 3 Feet High and Rising. Critical Beatdown. etc, etc"

Mondo Kane

After re-listening to Planet last night, I hesistated on switching my pick because Flav's joints ("911" and "Nuttin' for ya") are just so damn catchy. But still, "Black Steel" alone solidifies it's position as my favorite.

Funny how times have changed though. Check out Cube's appearance on "Burn Hollywood Burn" and look at the previews for Are we there yet?

Brain Stew

I was thinking about that last night. Snoop Dogg is going to be a kids' talking animal picture and Ice Cube is doing a "Dutch"-esque one.

These are the same guys that sang about hos and bitches and messing with the system. And now they're doing schlock. America

FrankTheTank

It was a very close call since both albums are classics, but I went with It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by a small thread.

Michael T Hudson

ICE CUBE:

Ice Cube is down with the PE
Now every single bitch wanna see me
Big Daddy is smooth word to muther
Let's check out a flick that exploits the color
Roamin' thru Hollywood late at night
Red and blue lights what a common sight
Pulled to the curb gettin' played like a sucker
Don't fight the power ... the mother f**ker

I don't think he is talking about me.

Jray

So true! I'm right there with you. Same age. All classics, all great that you mentioned. (side note: I miss Rakim. He's done a couple things here and there but nothing like back in the day.)

PE is in my top 5, probably top 3 all-time for rappers. Chuck D is always relevant and always "important" (for lack of a better word). Shame that Chingy and Ludacris fans don't have a clue. I'm turning into an old fogie though I think. I don't keep up with today's artists as much as I used to. I pick up albums from people I've been listening to for years like PE, Beastie Boys and LL. I could run into most of these new artists on the street and not have a clue.

PopcornTreeCt

I don't think kids want to hear about the man keeping the black man down anymore.